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<div>Hi Jean,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You've pressed one of my hot buttons! Although I can't cite
specific research results for you, I could certainly offer MUCH
anecdotal evidence for the value of print. In fact, a professor
I was chatting with at a holiday party yesterday afternoon told me he
hates to see everything going electronic -- he much prefers paper
versions so that he can put them in his briefcase to read.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You might actually find some interesting research done by the
people who have created the paperless book -- the kind to which you're
supposed to download the reading material. I think those have
not been terribly successful because we need the tactile experience
that you don't get with a monitor. Also, people like print
because you can read it easily anywhere and we want the sense that the
information or experience is more lasting, whereas electronic versions
strike us as more ephemeral. We'd like to think that we'll be
able to find what we're looking for again when we need it. We
also want to be able to leave print publications out for various
reasons, including so that others can see them (coffee table
syndrome). And I suspect that those who do fundraising could
certainly speak about the great value of "leave-behinds"
with donor prospects. </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I believe we should all aspire to have high quality print that
has value in and of itself, but that ALSO drives people to the web.
You can't be sure that people will really "receive" what you
send them electronically (overloaded inboxes lead to e-newsletters
being ignored), whereas perhaps there's a slightly greater chance that
people will at least glance at the paper version when it passes
through their hands. They may even set it aside to look at later
-- what are the chances of that with electronic information?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I think that many people in communications have done a fairly
good job using print to point people to the web, and that blend of
print/electronic communications seems to make a great deal of sense
for a number of reasons, including tight budgets. This approach
still has a lot of room for improvement, however, because it's not
really enough to use paper simply to announce a URL. There needs
to be some sense conveyed about value added in going to the web site,
and not just the idea that the electronic version has replaced the
paper version. Another area that we have not yet figured out
nearly as well is how to leverage the electonic media to point people
to particular print products. I'd like to see integrated
communications approaches that get the two media to work
hand-in-hand.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Just some ruminations on my part . . . I look forward to other
comments and pointers to research, too! Thanks for bringing up
the subject, Jean.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div>-- Catherine</div>
<div><font
color="#000000"
>___________________________________________________________</font></div
>
<div><font face="Times" size="+1" color="#000000"><br>
</font><font color="#000000">Catherine Avril, Director of
Communications</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">MIT School of Engineering<font
face="Times"><br>
</font>77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 1-207<font face="Helvetica"
size="-2"><br>
</font></font><font color="#000000">Cambridge, MA
02139<font face="Times"
size="-2"> </font></font><font color="#000000">
USA</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">tel: 617.253.9411 fax:
617.253.8549</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">http://mit.edu/engineering</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Hi editors,<br>
<br>
As an editor of the Academic Computing Insider newsletter, and in
light<br>
of the current budget situation here at MIT, I'm becoming
concerned<br>
about the survival of newsletters in paper format. I believe we
will<br>
soon have to justify why we aren't just publishing on the Web or
via<br>
e-mail. I believe that there are a significant number of readers
who<br>
prefer paper, but I have no proof of this and would like to have
this<br>
confirmed (or not) before I try to fight this fight.<br>
<br>
Does anyone on this list know of any current research done about
the<br>
value of publishing newsletters in paper format, comparisons of
how<br>
people prefer to read such materials, or even surveys done on
campus<br>
that would be relevant to this issue?<br>
<br>
I would even welcome a discussion about this issue on the list.<br>
<br>
(I feel like a bit of a lurker on this list since I have never made
it<br>
to one of your meetings since they conflict with my regular
staff</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>meeting. I do hope to make it to an
editor's meeting soon since we've<br>
just rescheduled the staff meetings!)<br>
<br>
-jean-<br>
<br>
-------------------------------------<br>
Jean Foster<br>
Team Leader, Academic Computing Support<br>
617.253.3909, jfoster@mit.edu, N42-040F<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Editors mailing list<br>
Editors@mit.edu<br>
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/editors</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
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